This little gem arrived on my doorstep the other day, a perfectly normal 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 RB Series B. Except for one thing: all the metal hardware on both sides, the rear and the front hood hinge are all OD green.

On very close examination the green was applied over the usual gray finish but there is no doubt it was a factory paint job. The wear patterns on my gray Series B and the green one are very nearly identical, indicating the hardness and age of the paint are the same. The luster of the paint is the same. The screws holding the shutter plates and other hardware appear never to have been removed, suggesting again the factory paint job.

There are no other markings, military or otherwise. Serial number is 153028.

If anyone has any ideas on the reason for the OD green or especially if anyone has come across one before please let me know. I'm very curious!

Well the serial number book shows it was a standard production camera before it was drafted, somewhere in 1926.

there have been, well I won't say many, but and interesting amount of odd variants like this. A few years back there was an early Home Portrait that had been stripped of its leather adn the wood stained and finished, but the bellows and chimney were in brown leather to match the finished wood, leaving me to believe it was a factory re-do. The chimney was of the newer style, without the fur trim, so I suspect the refinish took place in the 1930s, about 15 years after it was made.

The only problem with the camera was the brown leather didn't hold up as well as the original leather, and Bellows Camera had a very Henry Fordian approach to the color of bellows, so in order to make the camera work I'd have to eliminate the very reason I wanted the camera! I let it pass._________________"In order to invent, you need a good imagination and a lot of junk" Thomas Edison

I seem to remember about a year on the 'bay someone had two 3x4 Graflex bag mags available, one normal and one OD green so maybe it was a matching one for the camera I have now. Didn't have a 3x4 camera then so I didn't bid, probably never see another green one now!

When I see something a little out of the ordinary I usually save a photo of it, but that one slipped through the net. Maybe it wasn't really OD green but it definitely was green. Old age plays tricks with detail sometimes!!

Bruiser, are you sure it is not nicotine staining? I've had cameras that had a thick film of the stuff on them, and it can really change the appearance of the surface. I had a Mini Speed that looked like caramel instead of chrome. And it had that same slightly uneven look.

Folks back then really smoked like chimneys, and the old gear sometimes still shows the effect. I've had some where you could still smell the stuff.

No, it's old green factory paint, not nicotine. It doesn't wipe off or clean up any better than the photos show. Nicotine stains are always browner than green! As I said the wear on the paint is entirely consistent with the wear of my other Series B so it wasn't applied at a later stage either.

Bruiser, are you sure it is not nicotine staining? I've had cameras that had a thick film of the stuff on them, and it can really change the appearance of the surface. I had a Mini Speed that looked like caramel instead of chrome. And it had that same slightly uneven look.

Folks back then really smoked like chimneys, and the old gear sometimes still shows the effect. I've had some where you could still smell the stuff.

that might have been yellowed lacquer. Speeds around 1939-1940 had more matte chrome plating that polished, and for about 6-8 months they clear coated them. Sometimes the clear coat has turned nicotine yellow, sometimes it makes the chrome look more like grey paint._________________"In order to invent, you need a good imagination and a lot of junk" Thomas Edison